CULLMAN, AL -- The door opens and the commotion begins at the Cullman Animal Control shelter.

Choruses of barks, whines and howls echo in the holding area as a prospective owner slowly passes each cage filled with dogs of all colors, shapes and sizes. Most stand on their hind legs, sticking their cold noses through the chain-link fence. A few shy ones hang back, trembling in fear.

In the adjoining room, a dozen caged felines offer up meows and outstretched paws to a visitor, also hoping to escape their fate. Most will not. They will die in the gas chamber, one of only a handful left in Alabama.

Many animal welfare advocates, including a coalition of the Cullman animal welfare groups, Bring Animal Reform to Cullman (BARC), hope the practice of euthanasia will end through pending legislation being sponsored by State Reps. Steve McMillan, R-Bay Minette and Barry Mask, R-Wetumpka, and State Sen. Del Marsh, R-Anniston.

It would outlaw the gas chamber as a means of euthanasia for animals and is being supported by the Alabama Humane Federation and the Alabama Veterinary Medical Association.

In addition to Cullman, the other known gas chambers in North Alabama include Tuscumbia, Florence and Walker County, said long-time Tuscumbia animal control director Tommy Morson.

"The gas chamber is still a legal method of euthanasia and as long as it is, we will use it," said Morson, president of the Southeast Animal Control Officers Association which covers nine states. "But if it's outlawed, we will stop using it. If people would just spay and neuter their pets, we wouldn't have to euthanize any animal unless it is sick or injured."

Dr. Charles Franz, executive director of the Alabama Veterinary Medical Association, said the bill "would provide for the phasing out of all types of gas chambers in facilities operated for the collection and care of stray, neglected, abandoned, or unwanted animals throughout the state, whether they are government or private."

Franz said the main advantage of euthanizing animals by injection rather than in a gas chamber, which uses carbon monoxide and/or carbon dioxide, is that it is "normally rapid and painless death" which is "often not the case" with the gases used. He also said gas chambers can be a "significant risk to personnel involved in the process" and in high concentrations "can be a risk of explosion."

Morson and Cullman shelter director Candie Horsley believe the gas chamber is not a painful death -- not as painful as the emotional toil it takes on shelter technicians who euthanize the animals by injection.

"In my heart, if I thought the animal suffered, I would not do it," said Morson. "But when that animal leaves here, it is dead. The shelter technicians have to live with it and it's tough on them. When they euthanize by injection, the animal dies in their arms. They have bonded with those animals. When they put it in the chamber, it's out of sight, out of mind. When they go back 30 minutes later, it's dead."

Horsley agrees it is emotionally rough on technicians doing euthanasia by injection (EBI) over the gas chamber. She said it cost 28 cents per animal in the chamber to $4 per animal through EBI in Cullman.

However, a letter from the American Humane Society in July to Horsley said a study determined it cost $4.98 (including a tranquilizer) when using a gas chamber, compared to $2.29 for EBI.

The letter also said the society believes "euthanasia by injection is the only humane method of euthanasia for shelter animals." It said it only takes five seconds for an animal to lose consciousness and 40 seconds to reach medical death through injection compared to 25 minutes for death in the gas chamber.

It also noted the chamber is "both inhumane and demoralizing to the emotional and physical health of human beings and animals."

The City of Huntsville switched from the gas chamber to EBI in 2004 for all domestic animals, said Animal Services Director Dr. Karen Sheppard. She is a certified euthanasia trainer through the American Humane Association to provide certification for the State of Alabama shelter workers.

" We wanted to provide the highest level of humane care for our shelter pets," said Sheppard. "This class is considered to be the most current and up-to-date information regarding the humane euthanasia of domestic animals."

BARC members were instrumental is getting 2,800 signatures on a petition it presented to the Cullman County Commission in November requesting the gas chamber be outlawed said co-founder Sonya Graham.

Another BARC co-founder, Allison Almand, said the Cullman County Commission will meet Tuesday morning to address the issue again.

Trudy Burns, BARC co-founder and vice-president of the Cullman Area Animal Welfare Association (CAAWA), and foster mom Sue Jones try to rescue as many dogs and cats as they can from the Cullman shelter.

But it isn't an easy task. Burns attempted to pull several dogs from the shelter recently, but Horsley denied her requests on all but two puppies even though around 25 dogs were in the pens.

"It's political," said Burns. "But we just try to do the best we can. We pull based on the availability of foster homes."

Horsley said many dogs Burns requested were not available because they either had not been spayed or neutered (required by law), had not been there long enough for someone to claim (seven days) or other people had put a hold on a dog.

CAAWA is only one of two allowed to pull animals at no cost compared to other groups which must pay the $90 fee to take animals from the Cullman shelter. The ones Burns are allowed to pull are usually those about to be euthanized, said Horsley.

While Horsley said she has become used to the barks and meows in the shelter, what she doesn't "get used to" is pet owners not spaying or neutering their animals, those who never claim their animal picked up by animal control, or others who turn them in because it's no longer convenient to own.

"One woman brought in a Great Pyrenees and said she got new furniture and the dog didn't match the couch," said Horsley.

Horsley said 3,377 animals have been turned into the Cullman shelter between January and Dec. 1 this year, with only 721 adopted and 117 claimed. She said that figure is better than the same period in 2009 when 4,212 were turned in, 681 adopted and 137 claimed.

In Tuscumbia, the first six months of 2010, 2,700 animals were taken in and 1,140 were euthanized, said Morson.

Rea Cord of the Alabama Humane Federation has been a driving force behind the legislation, along with Rhonda Parker of Alabama Voters for Responsible Animal Legislation (AVRAL).

Cord says the trend is to move away from the gas chamber and "all major animal organizations" favor the move.

Almand said this battle is not something she enjoys, but the bottom line is that euthanasia is "a sad reality. We want the best death possible. We won't stop (until the gas chamber is outlawed)."